Lunch at a Carvery

I have heard bad reports of restaurant Christmas Day dinners, although we have had a couple of lovely meals out pre-Christmas.

I don't think there is an excuse for soggy vegetables even at a carvery - there should be rapid replacement with freshly cooked vegetables (with lids on the dishes!).

There was a suggestion that our family eat out on Christmas Day this year. Having read all this I’m glad I put my foot down.

Last time we went out on Boxing day we were still waitng an hour after arriving, watching other diners being served with food. We got ours finally but that's the last time we 'll go out for a meal at Xmas.

(Posted itself too soon) Anyway it was lovely and relaxing, not a bit if washing up in sight.

That's sad, as 3 of us went out for Christmas Lunch - 2 veggie options and one turkey dinner. There was a glass of Prosecco and canapés on arrival, first course a delicious soup and all had traditional (veggie) :Christmas pudding. It was £65 per head but you expect that iuf you go out on Christ

Similar thing happened to us some years ago.
Went for a meal just before Christmas at a restaurant we had used before but this day the food was absolutely terrible.

It totally ruined our family visit for that day.

Afterwards I regretted not just cooking a meal at home.

We ate out for the last few years, and have always been disappointed, even if we've eaten regularly at a place all year.

Such a shame that your day was spoiled I would have spoken about the problem with the food at the time to the manager at those kind of prices things should certainly be first class.When we used to have xmas dinner at a local hotel the price included entertainment and a santa gift for everyone .

Its a shame your Christmas lunch was spoilt. Unfortunately my observation of these big occasions is that restaurants never seem to be at their best even when you pay a lot. It would be worth mentioning to the manager though. If its a reputable place they will offer you another meal

Unfortunately if you choose to eat out on Christmas Day you will pay through the nose you d have done better to buy two ready made a Christmas meals and heated them up at home
If the food was poor or any service was not up to standard speak to them about that

Yes the staff are compensated for working over Christmas and as Niobe said that includes the whole team. The issue over soggy veg should be treated separately. I dislike carveries for this reason and the fact that the food is sitting around being coughed and sneezed on
Yuk.

Well the Carvery will be paying its staff double wages at least to get them to work today, that's chef, cleaners, waitresses/waiters, dishwashers etc plus with no public transport they have to pay for taxis for staff to come to work and get home so I reckon you got a cheap meal. When we owned a hotel that was what we did.